Teeth grinding blocks

What do you all use in your racks for the breeders to grind their teeth on? I've looked at lava block but wanted to know people's experience with it. I also read that hard dog biscuits on occasion are good. I am using Mazuri rat and mouse food for the higher protein, does that help keep their teeth down also?

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My hardward store offers birch, so a sheet of that cut into reasonably sized pieces will last a long time and still works out to be loads cheaper than buying the tiny little balsa things at the pet store for $5 a pack or whatever they are over time. It's a lot pricier than pine, but it's pet safe. When I lived in CO we had aspen trees in the yard and I could save some up after pruning and just sterilize them after they dried. You area might have a pet safe tree, you just want to double check. I've used bricks when I had pet rats, but it's not the best for a rack system... you put a brick under the water and every time they go to drink, they will dull their fingernails a bit, and they will chew it too. I'd imagine lava block would work the same way but I haven't personally tried it.

Lab blocks will keep their teeth controlled to a point, but not quite enough on their own. Same for dog biscuits. They just aren't hard enough to shave them down enough to not need something else.

I feed Mazuri rodent breeder lab blocks to my mice, & I would NOT rely on that- it's rather "soft" in my opinion, especially against rat teeth. I like nikkubus' suggestions.

Brazil nuts (in-shell). Depending upon how dedicated your rats are to reaching the nut inside they might have no teeth for a while...

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Originally Posted by Lord Sorril

Brazil nuts (in-shell). Depending upon how dedicated your rats are to reaching the nut inside they might have no teeth for a while...

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:rofl: Yes, hard nuts for sure. I used to have rats, & nuts are a good distraction for them anyway- nutritious & wears down their teeth.

They actually grind naturally, no extra consideration necessary, unless the rat is born malformed which I have seen in which case they are unable to gnaw or grind them on anything regardless and require frequent trimming by hand or surgery.